Month: December 2016

For JT, ‘Join Together’ is more than just a mission statement. It is something the company tries to do at every opportunity. Recognising the importance of families joining together at Christmas, JT has given an Islander free return flights for their loved ones to travel to the Channel Islands this Christmas.

The prize draw winner, Claire Williams from Jersey, was announced on the JTsocial Facebook page. She received return flights for her family. Claire Williams’ cousin, husband and their 6 month old baby flew from Jersey all the way from Scotland. And Claire got to meet her baby for the first time.

Claire said: “I am honestly so happy right now. Tears of absolute joy from me and my cousins. Thank you so so much for this. It has made mine and my families Christmas for definite!”

Tamara O’Brien, Deputy MD of JT Guernsey, at JT said: “For many families, Christmas is seen as the one time of year when everybody joins together. And that’s why we wanted to give the some cheer. Especially to those that might not have the option otherwise.”

She added: “We are really pleased to reunite our winners family. Everyone deserves to be with their most nearest and dearest at this special time of year.”

All three undersea cables fixed after they were cut by the anchor of a ship in the English Channel on Monday 28 November. Last weekend, BT coordinated the repair of the first cable. Then the remaining two were reconnected and brought into service this weekend.

This was an unprecedented event and BT worked diligently with the repair organization. But also worked with its agents to repair the submarine cables within a very tight timescale. We are thankful to them for doing so. And, also to the engineers in JT and Sure for working together in a way that ensured there was no noticeable impact on customer services during that time.

This incident demonstrates why investments in multiple links to the UK and France is so important. Especially to the Channel Islands. The islands rely on connectivity. Luckily, we were able to maintain this in the most difficult of circumstances through collaboration and coordination of all 3 parties BT, JT and Sure. They have demonstrated their ability to respond, manage and resolve what could have been a significant, service impacting event in a timely, professional and diligent manner. Thereby, minimising the impact to the Channel Islands.

December has arrived, and with it, all the joys of the festival season. This Christmas, JT is encouraging the community to make a difference to those less fortunate by giving essentials to local shelters and to Join Together.

JT staff will be taking part in a reverse advent calendar. This is the concept of collecting essential items in a box every day in the lead up to Christmas. Then, delivering these to those who truly need them the most on Christmas Eve. JT employees will be filling their boxes with items needed by The Shelter Trust in Jersey, St Julian’s House in Guernsey and, The Community Food Bank in Croydon. Tamara O’Brien, Deputy Managing Director of Guernsey, at JT said: The holiday season is a time when most people’s thoughts turn to being with those you love and sharing gifts. But for some, the season may bring feelings of despair rather than joy.

JT are committed to supporting our local community. Through our reverse advent calendar initiative, we want to join together as a community.” She added: “JT would also like to extend an invite to Islanders to get involved. Especially to donate what they can. You may even have a toiletry gift set that you received last year that you haven’t used. Or even if you are prepared to go out and buy something that you know others will cherish. Whatever you can provide, it will make a real difference at this important time of year.”

The public are being asked to deliver any items they wish to donate to JT’s store on Queen Street in Jersey. Or to The High Street in Guernsey. Here a large box will be provided for donations. JT will arrange that the items are delivered to the shelters in time for Christmas Day.

Neville Benbow, Chairman, The Shelter Trust, said: “We are just over three weeks away from Christmas, and that means shopping, presents and time spent with family and friends. While most are fortunate enough to have the right environment to appreciate
the festive period fully, the shelters do see the numbers of residents rising. By joining in this initiative and giving something special to our residents, you can help them make their Christmas the best it can possibly be. We are extremely grateful to JT for making this happen and to all those who are donating.”

Notes to the editor:
The Jersey Shelter Trust is the largest provider of services for homeless people in Jersey. They offer accommodation for up to 100 homeless people from four sites around St Helier and St Saviour. They also provide an Outreach service, for ‘rough sleepers’ in partnership with the Jersey Homeless Outreach Group. And, they support former residents who now live in their own homes, but need ongoing support.

JT has joined forces with Fon, the world’s largest Wi-Fi network. This means that JT fibre broadband customers will be able to move effortlessly from Wi-Fi hotspots FREE, without incurring data roaming charges.

JT has signed a partnership agreement with Fon. Fon’s global community network is based on a simple idea: if users share a bit of their Wi-Fi bandwidth at home, they can then connect for free to others who do the same, anywhere, anytime. By everyone sharing, everyone benefits.

There are now over 20 million Fon Wi-Fi hotspots all over the world now free to JT fibre customers. This includes millions in France and over 500,000 in London alone. Fon’s goal is to cover the world with Wi-Fi. Users will be able to find ‘Fon Spots’ wherever they go. Whether that’s walking down their high street, having a coffee or browsing in a shop.

The way it works is simple. Thanks to smart technology already built into JT customers’ fibre routers. Users who choose to share a small portion of their home service can then use the shared services of others. This means that they all have access to FREE Wi-Fi signals right across the Island. Thus, effectively taking their home service with them when they go out. As well as across the world.

Fon technology creates a second, separate signal that is used for sharing and is suitable for light internet browsing or checking emails. The home user will always have priority, so sharing doesn’t impact on the performance of their home service. Also, they will not incur any extra costs or usage charges. Due to the separate Wi-Fi signal, there are no security implications. The service is completely safe and secure.

Of course, JT fibre broadband customers can decide to opt-out of this free service, and not to share or unlock the potential of Fon. However, that means they also will not be able to use the bandwidth provided by others . Nor can they access the free services while abroad.

Dominic Vye, JT’s Head of Commercial Development, said: “JT has invested heavily to ensure that the Channel Islands have among the fastest broadband and mobile networks in the world. By now adding Fon to the range of benefits only available to JT fibre broadband customers, the islands take another step forward on our digital journey. This partnership will effectively create thousands of FREE Wi-Fi spots by Islanders for Islanders. By sharing a little, we all gain a lot. Not just locally but globally.”

JT is writing to all fibre broadband customers giving them information on how they can access the benefits of Fon from their JT router. So, they can start taking advantage of free Wi-Fi. The service is available to all customers on JT’s fibre network.

The Director of Fon Access, Ricardo Cabornero says, “At Fon we are extremely excited to add a new partner to our global coverage. JT was the best partner to work with in Jersey in terms of density and quality of the network. They provide broadband in the majority of households of the Island. JT will enable up to 25,000 hotspots in 3 years. Fon customers will now also be able to connect to Wi-Fi when they visit the Island and JT customers will be able to roam FREE on Fon hotspots when they travel abroad.”

To find out more about Fon, only from JT and other smart services visit /fon

About FonFon is a global leader in enhancing Wi-Fi access. Fon was founded in 2006 by Martin Varsavsky as the world’s first Wi-Fi community. For over 10 years we have worked together with leading carriers to build global Wi-Fi networks. We enable carriers to convert Wi-Fi routers into managed Wi-Fi hotspots by splitting the home Wi-Fi signal securely in two. One private and one public. Today, Fon powers more than 20 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide.

Fon has two business lines. Fon Network ties together the different carrier and premium networks into one coherent Fon network. Thus, facilitating user roaming between countries and selling access deals to interested parties. Fon Solutions, the technology arm of Fon, offers best-in-class Wi-Fi products and services. Our leading-edge platform enables service providers to configure and operate Wi-Fi services over hotspot networks. Designed with carriers and managed service providers in mind, Fon’s Wi-Fi platform suits the Wi-Fi needs of every business segment that wants to manage Wi-Fi networks.

Fon is backed by major strategic investors like Microsoft-Skype, Google, Qualcomm Ventures, Atomico, Coral Group, Index Ventures, BT, and Deutsche Telekom. Our vision is to be always on, always on the move. For more information, please visit www.fon.com.

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Affairs for JT, said:
“Today [TUESDAY 6 DECEMBER], the first of three cables that were cut by a ship’s anchor last Monday was repaired by the specialist cable repair ship, CS Wave Sentinel. We are now working with BT and Sure as now the cable is repaired we want to bring it back into service.

“We completed splicing (joining) the fibres in the submarine cable this afternoon. Now, we are carefully bringing the cable back online. Thereby, increasing the levels of resilience we provide.

“The CS Wave Sentinel is moving on to repair the damage to one of the two remaining cables. This is located some 100 km away. A second cable ship, Pierre de Fermat1, has already started to repair the final damaged cable. We expect all the work to be completed by early next week. And we expect further resilience and capacity restored at that point.

“We were able to move quickly to address this unprecedented issue. Therefore, we have kept disruption to a largely unnoticeable, absolute minimum. Many people have also been involved in keeping the islands connected. However, I would especially like to thank the engineering teams in Sure and JT for their hard work during this extremely challenging period. And, of course, our customers for their understanding.”

ENDS

1 The cable ship, Pierre de Fermat, had been working on other telecom submarine cables damaged as part of this same incident.

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Affairs for JT, said: “The first cable has been fixed. This is one of three cables that were cut by a ship’s anchor last Monday. The rest of the cables are scheduled to be repaired early next week.

“The weather has been poor in the Channel this weekend so the CS Wave Sentinel, which is repairing the first cable, took the opportunity to sail to Brest to pick up equipment necessary to repair the second cable. Thankfully, conditions have now improved so the ship has returned to finish repairs to the first cable and now has the materials to move quickly on to the second.

“We are pleased to confirm that we are continuing to carry all traffic and that the level of disruption has been minimal but, as you would expect, we remain on high alert. We thank all of our customers for their understanding. Although we are very pleased to say that the disruption has been very minimal, if not unnoticeable. We’re pleased to announce the cable has been fixed.

“Once again, I would again like to thank Islanders for their understanding and we will continue to keep everyone updated.”

Please keep an eye on our website for continuing updates on the situation, or contact us for more information.

ENDS

Notes to Editors
Last Monday, [28 NOV], three of JT’s four undersea international submarine cables were cut, thought to be caused by a ship dragging its anchor along the seabed. One cable has now been fixed, ensuring that the cables will soon be in full operation again.

Notes. The issue has now been fully rectified please click here to see more about the resolution.

Daragh McDermott, Director of Corporate Affairs for JT, said:
“All traffic is being carried with a limited amount of spare capacity and the level of disruption has been minimal but the situation is far from resolved and we remain on high alert. However, the first cable fix is on schedule.

“As we have said from the start, this is an unprecedented issue and there may be some disruption at peak times. I would again like to thank Islanders for their understanding and we will continue to keep everyone updated. At the current moment in time any disruptions seem to have been very minimal.

“The Cable Ship Wave Sentinel is now working above one of the cables. It has located both ends of the severed cable and will now begin the complicated task of fixing them together. It is still expected that this first cable will be repaired by the beginning of next week.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors
On Monday late afternoon and evening [28 NOV], three of JT’s four undersea international submarine cables were cut, thought to be caused by a ship dragging its anchor along the seabed.

Note. Please see the resolved undersea cable issue here. We are now happy to announce that the problem has been rectified, after all 3 cables were fixed.